FANS' INSIDER
A liberal dose
September 19, 2007
Happy Birthday today to the digital smiley face and Cowboys coach Wade Phillips.
Actually, today isn't Coach's birthday. His real birthday is June 21. And because that also happens to be my birthday, I know how left out you can feel when your birthday falls during the summer.
The other kids got to celebrate their birthday with all of their friends at school and enough cupcakes for an entire classroom. Meanwhile, we summer birthday people were forced to 'celebrate' with, if we were lucky, three or four of our closest friends.
(By 'closest,' I mean the ones who weren't away on vacation, the ones who didn't choose to go swimming instead and the ones whose moms had errands to run and needed someone to watch their kids for free for a couple of hours whether their kids wanted to come to the party or not.)
So, we would make up a birthday for ourselves during the school year.
Know what I'm talking about, Coach?
Today, however, actually is the 25th birthday of the digital smiley face. You know, this guy ... :-).
On Sept. 19, 1982, Scott E. Fahlman first typed colon-hyphen-parenthesis to symbolize a sideways smiley face on an online electronic board. Just like that, a new language was born.
That's why I decided to go ahead and wish Phillips a happy birthday during the season while everyone's paying attention. With the Cowboys standing at 2-0 for the first time this century and a feeling of rebirth in the air around Valley Ranch, Phillips has lots of reasons to :-).
In his first year on the job, Phillips has managed to do something that no Cowboys coach who went on to work at ESPN ever accomplished. Of course, Phillips isn't one to go around and :-p (stick his tongue out) at previous coaches.
Although who would blame him if he wanted to?
We worried about bobbled snap carryovers for Tony Romo. Instead, we have witnessed quite the opposite. Romo has been as B-) as a cucumber in his first two games.
And the defense Phillips was hired to fix and looked so shaky in the season opener? Well, let's just say that there were four pages of Cowboys coverage in Monday's newspaper and every time Roy Williams' name was mentioned, it was in connection to his interception rather than his coverage responsibility's touchdown. If Williams' turnaround is a sign of things to come under Phillips, opposing offensive coordinators will spend their nights :'-) like a baby.
So forgive Phillips if the Cowboys defeat Chicago on Sunday and he gives a little ;-) and a nod to the cameras. But don't expect much more.
Phillips is not one to let his emotions get the best of himself. Especially this early in the season.
The last time the Cowboys started 2-0 -- and, also 3-0, for future reference -- was 1999. The coach then was Chan Gailey and the Cowboys made the playoffs and lost in the first round of the playoffs. :-(
But -- and not to get too far ahead of ourselves here -- but if Phillips' team can make it to 4-0 ... well, the last time the Cowboys were 4-0 was in 1995, and they went on that season to win the Super Bowl.
If that doesn't give Phillips a :-], I don't know what will.
David Thomas' sports humor column appears Wednesdays and Sundays.
September 19, 2007
Happy Birthday today to the digital smiley face and Cowboys coach Wade Phillips.
Actually, today isn't Coach's birthday. His real birthday is June 21. And because that also happens to be my birthday, I know how left out you can feel when your birthday falls during the summer.
The other kids got to celebrate their birthday with all of their friends at school and enough cupcakes for an entire classroom. Meanwhile, we summer birthday people were forced to 'celebrate' with, if we were lucky, three or four of our closest friends.
(By 'closest,' I mean the ones who weren't away on vacation, the ones who didn't choose to go swimming instead and the ones whose moms had errands to run and needed someone to watch their kids for free for a couple of hours whether their kids wanted to come to the party or not.)
So, we would make up a birthday for ourselves during the school year.
Know what I'm talking about, Coach?
Today, however, actually is the 25th birthday of the digital smiley face. You know, this guy ... :-).
On Sept. 19, 1982, Scott E. Fahlman first typed colon-hyphen-parenthesis to symbolize a sideways smiley face on an online electronic board. Just like that, a new language was born.
That's why I decided to go ahead and wish Phillips a happy birthday during the season while everyone's paying attention. With the Cowboys standing at 2-0 for the first time this century and a feeling of rebirth in the air around Valley Ranch, Phillips has lots of reasons to :-).
In his first year on the job, Phillips has managed to do something that no Cowboys coach who went on to work at ESPN ever accomplished. Of course, Phillips isn't one to go around and :-p (stick his tongue out) at previous coaches.
Although who would blame him if he wanted to?
We worried about bobbled snap carryovers for Tony Romo. Instead, we have witnessed quite the opposite. Romo has been as B-) as a cucumber in his first two games.
And the defense Phillips was hired to fix and looked so shaky in the season opener? Well, let's just say that there were four pages of Cowboys coverage in Monday's newspaper and every time Roy Williams' name was mentioned, it was in connection to his interception rather than his coverage responsibility's touchdown. If Williams' turnaround is a sign of things to come under Phillips, opposing offensive coordinators will spend their nights :'-) like a baby.
So forgive Phillips if the Cowboys defeat Chicago on Sunday and he gives a little ;-) and a nod to the cameras. But don't expect much more.
Phillips is not one to let his emotions get the best of himself. Especially this early in the season.
The last time the Cowboys started 2-0 -- and, also 3-0, for future reference -- was 1999. The coach then was Chan Gailey and the Cowboys made the playoffs and lost in the first round of the playoffs. :-(
But -- and not to get too far ahead of ourselves here -- but if Phillips' team can make it to 4-0 ... well, the last time the Cowboys were 4-0 was in 1995, and they went on that season to win the Super Bowl.
If that doesn't give Phillips a :-], I don't know what will.
David Thomas' sports humor column appears Wednesdays and Sundays.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:54 AM
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